“At what point do the hardcore gamers switch over from spending $60 a month on console games to spending that much a month on microtransactions for an online title,” EA Easy’s Ben Cousins told the London Games Conference audience last night.

“There's an opportunity in the next two to five years to cause a significant disruption to the traditional triple-A console market. I want someone considering buying a game on a Microsoft console to think 'But these games are free over here’.”

Last month Peter Moore told MCV: “We need to provide that persistent world, maybe sometimes powered by discs, maybe on social networks, or the cloud or whatever. That’s’ the team’s vision, that no matter where you are or what you’re using, there’s a FIFA experience to be had, it all links together, it lifts your level up and identifies your status.

“Personally I still think there’ll be discs five years from now. But generally yes, of course, I think there will come a time when FIFA is less a disc that you wait for in late September/early October, and more something that we provide 365 days a year.”

MCV is the leading trade news and community site for all professionals working within the UK and international video games market. It reaches everyone from store manager to CEO, covering the entire industry. MCV is published by NewBay Media, which specialises in entertainment, leisure and technology markets.